Super energy efficient,
healthy homes & buildings.
We teach everyone who touches a home or building how to make it more energy efficient, healthier, more comfortable, and built to last.
Welcome to Carbonless.
Building to code is the starting point. It doesn't have to be the finish line.
A home or building can be designed to use far less energy, cost less to operate, be healthier and more comfortable, and last for generations.
That starts with getting the building itself right — the walls, roof, foundation, windows, doors, air control, moisture control and thermal control.
Carbonless exists to teach you how.
We educate homeowners, tradespeople, builders, designers, inspectors and other professionals about creating super energy efficient, healthy homes and buildings.
Use less energy. Lower your utility bills. Live healthier. Build it to last.
Our Mission
Affordable Housing matters. Affordable Living matters more.
Carbonless teaches people how to create buildings that use less energy, cost less to operate, manage moisture, improve comfort, and are built to last.
We educate everyone who touches a building — from the landowner before the first shovel hits the ground to the person living in it 100 years from now.
Most buildings are already failing before anyone moves in.
Not because of bad materials. Not because of lazy workers. Because nobody taught the people who built them what actually happens inside a wall — how heat moves through every stud, how moisture collects in places no inspector ever looks, how air leaks through gaps that no code requires anyone to seal.
This book is about fixing that.
Brian Iverson has spent more than five decades in construction — as a carpenter, designer, energy auditor, and inventor. He has seen what code-minimum buildings become over time. And he wrote this book so that you don’t have to learn what he learned the hard way.
What you’ll walk away with:
∙ A clear understanding of the four control layers that govern every building envelope
∙ The ability to identify where buildings fail — and why
∙ Practical, economically sound strategies for new construction and retrofits
∙ The confidence to build beyond code minimum, in any climate
Whether you’re a builder who listens between job sites, a homeowner trying to understand why your house costs so much to heat and cool, or an architect designing your first high-performance assembly — this is the science explained straight, without the jargon.
Narrated by a professional voice actor and paired with the complete ebook for reference at home or in the field. Two formats. One education.
Net Zero isn’t a luxury. It’s what happens when you get the envelope right.
Includes both the full audiobook and complete ebook.
Choose Where You Want to Start.
You don't have to learn everything at once.
Whether you're building new, remodeling an existing building, trying to lower energy costs, solving moisture problems, or simply trying to understand how buildings really work, Carbonless has a place to start.
Learn what you need. Use it in the field. Build better.
THE BOX — DIGITAL EDITION — $99
Instant digital download. No physical book will be shipped.
THE BOX gives you the big picture before you build, remodel, retrofit, or start fixing a problem.
Learn what matters, who needs to be involved, what questions to ask, and how the pieces of a Super Energy-Efficient, Healthy Home or Building work together.
Built for homeowners, builders, remodelers, tradespeople, and building professionals who want to make better decisions before expensive mistakes get buried behind the walls.
You don’t have to become a building scientist. You just need to know what questions to ask.
Understand it. Plan it. Don’t forget it.
You didn’t build this house. But you’re the one living with what it got wrong.
Maybe it’s a mold problem that keeps coming back. Maybe it’s an energy bill that never made sense no matter what you’ve replaced. Maybe you’re about to renovate and you’re scared — because you’ve heard enough horror stories to know that adding insulation in the wrong place can make things worse, not better.
That fear is legitimate. And it’s exactly why this guide exists.
Most retrofit problems aren’t mistakes. They’re predictable reactions to changing how an existing house handles heat, air, and moisture. Good intentions — adding insulation, sealing leaks, upgrading windows and systems — can trap moisture, create cold surfaces, or produce mold where it never appeared before. Not because you did something wrong. Because nobody explained the physics before the walls closed in.
This guide explains the physics. Before the walls close in.
Built for Real Houses. Not New Construction Theory.
Brian Iverson has spent fifty years diagnosing what goes wrong in existing buildings. Not theoretical buildings. Real ones — with 1908 Craftsman bones, mid-century assemblies, decades of well-meaning upgrades layered on top of each other, and moisture stories nobody ever told the homeowner.
This guide is built around the 2126 Rule — a framework for retrofitting assemblies that dry properly, recover from mistakes, surface problems early, and hold up for generations. Not code minimum. Not perfection. Durable, forgiving, honest construction that lets you close walls with confidence.
At $49, it is the most affordable entry point into the Carbonless education system — and for many homeowners and remodelers, it is the only guide they will ever need.
What’s Inside
How buildings actually move heat, air, and moisture — and why cold surfaces are always the first place trouble starts, not the last.
Why mold appears in otherwise normal houses — almost always condensation, not leaks. Understanding this changes everything about how you approach a renovation.
Why climate reveals problems — it doesn’t create them — your house had the problem before the cold snap. The cold snap just made it visible.
You’re not breaking the house — you’re changing it — how to anticipate what changes when you improve an assembly, and how to choose reactions that solve the problem permanently.
Practical rebuild strategies — flash-and-batt, smart membranes, exterior insulation, and more. Real options for real budgets and real existing structures.
Forgotten edges — rim joists, ceilings, and why they often need attention before anything else. The places no one looks until something goes wrong.
The evolution of insulation — and why older, more forgiving houses can struggle when modern materials are added without understanding the moisture story they’re interrupting.
Two Real-World Case Studies
Case Study #1 — How This House Got Sick
A mid-20th-century assembly dissected layer by layer. What went wrong, why it went wrong, and how physics-first fixes prevent it from ever coming back.
Case Study #2 — 1908 Craftsman
Thermal imaging analysis of energy loss and retrofit gaps in a century-old house. What the images revealed, what they meant, and what to do about it.
Resilience Over Perfection
This is not a guide about achieving the perfect assembly. It’s a guide about understanding your house well enough to make it durable, healthy, and forgiving — on a real budget, in a real climate, without starting over from scratch.
Slow down. Understand the moisture story. Close the walls with confidence.
Carbonless Logic Building Envelope Training
The complete audio training that teaches homeowners and builders the building science principles behind high-performance, energy-efficient construction — in plain language, from the field.
Carbonless Building Envelope Course
14 Modules. One Payment. Lifetime Access.
Learn how a building actually works — and why so many buildings fail.
This course teaches the connection between heat, air, moisture, insulation, windows, foundations, walls, roofs, HVAC, materials, and building performance. Because none of those systems work alone.
You’ll get 14 professionally narrated audio modules built around practical building science, real field experience, and Carbonless Logic™. Listen in the truck, on the jobsite, at home, or anywhere you have time to learn.
You’ll learn how to:
understand the building envelope as a complete system
recognize moisture, mold, air-leakage, and thermal-control problems
understand insulation and wall assemblies
make better decisions about foundations, roofs, windows, and HVAC
measure, test, and document building performance
apply Carbonless Logic™ to new construction, retrofits, and remodels
Built for builders, remodelers, tradespeople, homeowners, inspectors, designers, and building-performance professionals.
No construction background is required. The course is taught in plain English so you can understand why buildings work, why they fail, and what questions to ask before making expensive decisions.
What You Get
✓ 14 professionally narrated modules
✓ Lifetime access
✓ Real-world building science in plain English
✓ Field examples from more than 50 years of experience
$199 — One Payment. Lifetime Access.
Understand the building. Ask better questions. Make better decisions.
Standard course access does not include continuing education credits. If you need CE credit, register through EEBA where eligible.
Carbonless Builder Wall Assembly Reference Library
800+ Verified Wall Assemblies. One-Time Purchase.
Lifetime Access. Ongoing Updates.
Licensed for one individual user. Also includes downloads for the Carbonless Logic Playbook and Checklist, Carbonless: Intro to Sustainable Building Ebook, and the Carbonless Retrofit Education Document.
See exactly how wall assemblies are calculated — layer by layer.
This Carbonless Wall Assembly Library includes 16 wall assembly families covering common 2x4 and 2x6 wall systems, with and without continuous insulation.
Each PDF shows the full calculation method so builders, designers, architects, inspectors, tradespeople, and homeowners can see how the wall performs from the inside finish to the exterior layers.
Included:
2x4 wall assemblies
2x6 wall assemblies
No continuous insulation
R-5 continuous insulation
R-6 ZIP System assemblies
R-9 ZIP System assemblies
R-10 continuous insulation
R-12 ZIP System assemblies
R-15 continuous insulation
R-20 continuous insulation
Multiple cavity insulation options
Whole-wall R-value calculations
U-factor calculations
RSI and metric information
Layer-by-layer thermal calculations
Each assembly is presented in the original Carbonless calculation format so you can see exactly how the numbers were calculated.
This is a digital download delivered as a ZIP file containing the complete PDF library.
Carbonless — helping people understand how to build super energy-efficient and healthy houses.
Questions: hello@carbonless.org
Carbonless.org
Wall & Roof Assemblies Library
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO BUILDING SMARTER, MORE EFFICIENT, AND SUSTAINABLE STRUCTURES.
“The book explores sustainable living through the concept of "thermal living," focusing on energy efficiency and reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Iverson offers practical solutions and encourages a mindset shift towards more environmentally conscious choices. The book is accessible, blending science and real-world examples to show how we can live in better harmony with the planet. Overall, it's a timely and engaging read for anyone interested in sustainability and the future of energy. Highly recommend this book!”
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